Posts tagged Captivating

Then the time came when the risk it took

To remain tight in a bud was more painful

Than the risk it took to blossom

- Anais Nin

A woman becomes beautiful when she knows she’s loved. We’ve seen this many times. Cut off from love, rejected, no one pursuing her, something in a woman wilts like a flower no one waters anymore. She withers into resignation, duty, and shame. The radiance of her countenance goes out, as if a light has been turned off. But this same woman, who everyone thought was rather plain and unengaging, becomes lovely and inviting when she is pursued. Her heart begins to come alive, come to the surface, and her countennce becomes radiant. We wonder, “Where has she been all these years? Why, she really is captivating”

Think of Tulah in My Big Fat Greek Wedding or Danielle in Ever After.

What happened to each woman was merely the power of romance releasing her true beauty, awakening her heart. She has come alive. As women we long to be loved in a certain way, a way unique to our femininity . We long for romance. We are wired for it; it’s what makes our hearts come alive. Somewhere deep down inside, you know this. But what you might never have known is this…

This doesn’t need to wait for a man.

God longs to bring this into your life himself. He wants you to move beyond the childlike “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” He wants to heal you through his love to become mature women who actually know Him. 

What were the things that romanced your heart as a girl? Was it horses in a field? Was it the fragrance of the air after a summer rain? Was it a favorite book? The first snow-fall of winter? Those were all whispers from a Lover, notes sent to awaken your heart’s longings. And as we journey into a true intimacy with God as women he often brings those things back into our lives, to remind us He was there, to heal and restore things that were lost or stolen.

- Taken from Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge